During the brisk days of winter, when hummingbirds seem like an unlikely sighting, it's easy to overlook their nests. But these tiny creations deserve our attention, especially when they're hidden in a shrub near a bustling street or tucked into a crevice within a bush. This week, I photographed a beautiful anna's hummingbird nest in a camellia sapling that sat only a few feet from the sidewalk on a busy East Bay street. The nest was about the size of a ping-pong ball and the eggs looked like tiny Tic-Tac mints.

Anna's hummingbirds are the most common hummingbird in our region and nest in open wooded areas, shrubby areas and mountain meadows from Oregon to Arizona. Nesting season begins as early as December and continues through May/June each year. Males arrive first to establish territories and females will typically start nest building once they've found a suitable site.

Females construct tightly woven cup-type nests, often embellishing them with lichens and flower fragments. https://nestvui.com/yen-tinh-che/ and spider silk are also used in the construction. Typically, nests are located 6 to 20 feet off the ground in non-windy and shady places. Nests are anchored to branches or twigs with an incredibly strong and elastic web of spider silk, which prevents the tiny, ultralight nest from blowing away in a gust.

A hummingbird's life is high-octane, with hearts beating 1,200 times per minute and every 15 seconds they need to breathe 250 times. In order to fuel this high-performance lifestyle, hummingbirds consume twice their body weight in nectar daily. And this is no easy feat, with the birds visiting hundreds of flowers each day and using their tubular tongues to lick the fluid from inside the petals.

In addition to nectar, anna's hummingbirds consume a wide range of small insects. Insects make up about 15% of their diet, providing important amino acids and other nutrients. They forage by hovering or perching on exposed branches, and in some cases they chase gnats and other small insects around for several minutes at a time.

In the last century, anna's hummingbird populations have expanded across their entire range, due to 3 factors: the increased abundance of winter-blooming eucalyptus trees in their native habitat, an ever-growing buffet of exotic flowers in urban gardens and backyards, and the widespread popularity of hummingbird feeders. The birds don't migrate long distances as most North American hummingbirds do, preferring to stay within a given area of the West Coast all year, migrating higher in elevation when food is available and lower when it's not. But their ability to thrive year-round in some of the harshest climates is truly remarkable. Their resourcefulness and adaptability are an inspiration.